This document provides notice that the BLM RSFO intends to prepare an RMP with an associated EIS for the Rock Springs planning area, announces the beginning of the scoping process, and seeks public input on issues and planning criteria. The planning area includes portions of Lincoln, Sweetwater, Uinta, Sublette, and Fremont counties in southwestern Wyoming. The Rock Springs RMP decision area includes public lands administered by the BLM RSFO and encompasses approximately 3.6 million acres of surface land and 3.5 million acres of mineral estate. The decision area excludes private, State, tribal trust, or other Federal lands or subsurface mineral estates not administered by the BLM.

The purpose of the public scoping process is to identify issues that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis, including alternatives, and guide the planning process. Preliminary issues have been identified by BLM personnel through an interdisciplinary process and include, but are not limited to: cultural and historic resources, Native American concerns, energy and minerals development, renewable energy and associated transmission infrastructure, fire and fuels management, lands and realty actions, paleontological resources, recreation management, special designations, lands with wilderness characteristics and Wild Lands, vegetation management, livestock grazing/rangeland management, visual resources concerns, soil and water management, wildlife habitat management including protection of sensitive species habitat, healthy landscapes initiative, air quality and global climate change, wild horse and burro management, and the economic effects of BLM actions. Additional identified BLM management concerns include: drought management, forest resources, invasive species/noxious weeds, public safety, and the wildland-urban interface.